Imagine living in the slums, sharing only a portion of food for each family member, facing death at every corner. Suddenly, people begin to talk about a country that can “fix” lifestyles and provide freedom without prosecution. America began to be this country, causing a dramatic increase of immigrants. Beginning as early as the 1800s, over 26 million immigrants began to swarm the eastern shores of America. Mostly from Europe, these people could not let go the vision of greater opportunity, freedom, and job openings. People living in homes filled with instability, lack of food, and overpopulation, were exhilarated by the idea of moving, in hopes of thriving.
This important era in American history is named the “Gilded Age,” filled with industrialization and economic growth. Though, it also came with an extremely high percentage of poverty, mostly in the urban environments. From 1865 to 1898, at the end of the civil war, the Gilded Age came to place. It was a period of industrialization, with a focus towards America’s development as an industrial and business power. The name “The Gilded Age,” is quite sarcastic. Mark Twain coined this term in 1890, stating that America was not experiencing a golden age, rather a Gilded Age. The term gilded is defined as something covered with gold on the outside, but not golden on the inside.
Mark Twain rightfully states, “the golden gleam of the gilded surface hides the cheapness of the metal underneath.” By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. A major factor in his statement was due to the wealth inequality during this era. Under the immense wealth of America were many different individuals such as, Andrew Carnegie, J.P Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller. These certain individuals became rich partly through political corruption, as well as waves of immigrant laborers. This comes to show the different spectrums of the country, some people being incredibly wealthy, while others were very poor.
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Another thing that characterized this period is the second industrial revolution, a revolution of mass production. Many important productions, such as steel for trains and building construction, caused a greater rise to the cities. Also, technology made a big impact on the workspace, helping production become faster. Millions of immigrants came to America in hopes of beginning a better life. “New” immigrants, as they were often called, tended to come from Mexico, Asia, and Eastern and Southern Europe. Because of poverty and political disruptions, immigrants were pushed towards America, in hopes to find jobs and freedom. Though searching for a better life, it was not easy being a foreign immigrant.
From 1870 to 1920, foreign immigration caused growth of urban industrial cities, causing the process of urbanization to arise. Most immigrants began to seek jobs in industrial cities, taking over around 75% of the population in cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit. Workers were shifting away from agriculture to manufacturing and service industry jobs. The strong growth in population, that continued to occur through the late 19th century, caused living areas to be deplorable. Given that the immigrants coming in were not only desperate and poor, but also numbering in great quantities, the living accommodations became a nightmare.
The poor and cheaply constructed housing, with a lack of sanitation, became increasingly sickening. The congested cities, along with poor sanitation, caused high mortality rates due to infectious diseases. Quite obviously, it was concluded that immediate living conditions in the cities had to be improved. Transportation impacted many people in a positive way, allowing people to move around easily. Because immigrants needed to arrive to work on time and efficiently, they had a large toll on transportation. In 1887, electric trolleys allowed workers to move from greater distances. Subway systems began to arise in cities which provided self-sufficiency. The ability to live further away from their work place, and journey away from the tenements, was another step to industrialization.
Although it made a great impact, mostly the middle class were moving to inner suburbs and leaving the city center. This was because most immigrants did not have the money to afford transportation, and had to continue living close to the factories. Education was quickly prospering, with the rapid children population growth. Though education was not easy to come by, the community agreed that it was an important aspect to allow the children to grow and prosper.
